Kidney Cancer

At the risk of sounding corny, Dr. Steven J. Shichman says he may have found a better way to treat kidney cancer right in the palm of his hand. His left hand. Of all the expensive sophisticated surgical devices he's used, Shichman says his hand is the only instrument sensitive and agile enough to allow the removal of a cancerous kidney through a tiny abdominal incision. His technique -- so new that it is being unveiled at international, national and regional meetings of urologists this month -- promises to ease pain and drastically reduce recovery time for patients with kidney cancer.

AVON — The Hartford Bridge Club recently presented a donation of $3,500 to the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center in town. The donation Aug. 26 was made in honor of Dixie Mastrandrea, a former president and longtime member of the bridge club, who died May 30 after a more than 20-year battle with cancer. Bridge club Manager Donna Feir said that she and Mastrandrea joined the Hartford Bridge Club in the '80s and were responsible for growing its membership and finding the club's current location on Andover Drive in West Hartford.

BERES, David Mason David Mason Beres, 42, died Sunday (January 25, 2004) at his home in West Los Angeles of kidney cancer. He is survived by his beloved wife, Huiyu Wang Beres; and by his parents, Andrew and Patricia Beres of Avon. Services and interment will take place in West Avon. Gates, Kingsley & Gates Moeller Murphy Directors, Santa Monica, CA.

A long-awaited study of almost 225,000 Pratt & Whitney workers from the 1950s to the early 2000s found a slightly higher rate of brain cancer among workers at a former North Haven plant than for the Connecticut population as a whole. But the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, says the higher rate is "not statistically significant" and could have been caused by factors not related to the plant. Two additional studies expected by 2010 will try to determine causes for the cancers.

Compared with cigarette smokers, cigar smokers: Have elevated risks of prostate cancer and male breast cancer -- cancers not known to be associated with cigarettes. Have higher death rates for cancers of the oral cavity. Have lower mortality rates from lung cancer. Compared with nonsmokers, cigar smokers: Have four times the risk of developing lung cancer. Have six times the risk of cancers of the mouth and oral cavity. Have three to four times the risk of cancer of the larynx.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE, vdelatorre@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, April 17, 2012

Family and friends of Paige Williams, a 7-year-old Hartford girl with advanced kidney cancer, will be holding a pancake fundraiser Saturday at Calvary Church in West Hartford. The $10-per-ticket event was originally scheduled for January 21, the day a snow storm hit the area and severely limited the turnout. Proceeds from the 8 a.m. to noon fundraiser will help support the family, said Paige's mother, La'Keshia Kitchens. Paige has three siblings, including a twin brother.

When The Courant recently asked parents if they remembered what it was like to have a life, 67 people called with their trials and tribulations and asked to be considered for a night out on us. We facetiously had asked the callers to make us cry with their stories. And some of the responses were quite touching and pretty sad. But the callers tended to joke about their situations anyway. We heard from: A father whose wife hands off their squalling baby as he gets home and she leaves for work.

Edward F. Beckwith left a restored Bushnell Park to the people of Hartford, and also left a legacy of inspiring people to succeed. Beckwith, the leading advocate in the 1980s for fixing up the park, died Saturday at his home in South Portland, Maine. He was 68, and died of kidney cancer. "I would say Ed was the visionary who saw what the park could once again be brought back to," said Sandra A. Sharr, who worked with Beckwith in restoring Bushnell Park in the 1980s. "He was the driving force to work with the city to refurbish the park."

AVON — The Hartford Bridge Club recently presented a donation of $3,500 to the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center in town. The donation Aug. 26 was made in honor of Dixie Mastrandrea, a former president and longtime member of the bridge club, who died May 30 after a more than 20-year battle with cancer. Bridge club Manager Donna Feir said that she and Mastrandrea joined the Hartford Bridge Club in the '80s and were responsible for growing its membership and finding the club's current location on Andover Drive in West Hartford.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE, vdelatorre@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, January 19, 2012

A pancake fundraiser to help the family of Paige Williams, a 6-year-old city student with advanced kidney cancer, is planned for Saturday at Calvary Chapel in West Hartford. The Breakthrough II Elementary School first-grader has received treatment at Connecticut Children's Medical Center since a tumor was discovered last May, said her mother, La'Keshia Kitchens. To care for Paige, who is now home-schooled, Kitchens said she works only part-time on the weekends and has been trying to keep her family financially afloat.

By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, February 5, 2013

HARTFORD – Douglas Peary says he became a believer in laws allowing the terminally ill to obtain a doctor's prescription for a lethal dose of medication after three family members died from complications of cancer. "I watched my father die of prostate cancer [that] spread to his bones for months on end with pain so great he that had to be drugged to oblivion," said Peary, who is 70 and lives in North Haven. "He looked like a concentration camp victim. " He recounted the equally heartrending end-of-life suffering endured by his wife and his sister.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE, vdelatorre@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, April 17, 2012

Family and friends of Paige Williams, a 7-year-old Hartford girl with advanced kidney cancer, will be holding a pancake fundraiser Saturday at Calvary Church in West Hartford. The $10-per-ticket event was originally scheduled for January 21, the day a snow storm hit the area and severely limited the turnout. Proceeds from the 8 a.m. to noon fundraiser will help support the family, said Paige's mother, La'Keshia Kitchens. Paige has three siblings, including a twin brother.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE, vdelatorre@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, January 19, 2012

A pancake fundraiser to help the family of Paige Williams, a 6-year-old city student with advanced kidney cancer, is planned for Saturday at Calvary Chapel in West Hartford. The Breakthrough II Elementary School first-grader has received treatment at Connecticut Children's Medical Center since a tumor was discovered last May, said her mother, La'Keshia Kitchens. To care for Paige, who is now home-schooled, Kitchens said she works only part-time on the weekends and has been trying to keep her family financially afloat.

GLASTONBURY - It was raining on the night of the viewing. Funeral home music played drearily in the background. Mark Landers couldn't stand it anymore. "Do we have to play this music?" Mark asked the funeral home director. Of course not, the man said. Do you have something else? Mark and his brother's widow looked at each other. "Bruce Springsteen," they said. For the six hours his wake lasted, Bill Landers got his Springsteen. His family and friends wore running shoes in tribute to a man, who, a mere three weeks earlier, had run the New Haven 20K road race.

BERES, David Mason David Mason Beres, 42, died Sunday (January 25, 2004) at his home in West Los Angeles of kidney cancer. He is survived by his beloved wife, Huiyu Wang Beres; and by his parents, Andrew and Patricia Beres of Avon. Services and interment will take place in West Avon. Gates, Kingsley & Gates Moeller Murphy Directors, Santa Monica, CA.

Christine Sao Miguel came to the University of Connecticut Health Center from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Susan Loewenkamp from Los Angeles to take an experimental cancer vaccine. They neither knew nor cared that they were among the first two dozen patients to receive experimental treatments based on research conducted by UConn scientists -- a goal long sought by UConn officials. "This is exactly what we should be doing," says Dr. Peter Deckers, head of the health center. Sao Miguel and Loewenkamp say the treatments are what they need to stay alive.

A long-awaited study of almost 225,000 Pratt & Whitney workers from the 1950s to the early 2000s found a slightly higher rate of brain cancer among workers at a former North Haven plant than for the Connecticut population as a whole. But the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, says the higher rate is "not statistically significant" and could have been caused by factors not related to the plant. Two additional studies expected by 2010 will try to determine causes for the cancers.

Christine Sao Miguel came to the University of Connecticut Health Center from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Susan Loewenkamp from Los Angeles to take an experimental cancer vaccine. They neither knew nor cared that they were among the first two dozen patients to receive experimental treatments based on research conducted by UConn scientists -- a goal long sought by UConn officials. "This is exactly what we should be doing," said Dr. Peter Deckers, head of the health center. Sao Miguel and Loewenkamp say the treatments are what they need to stay alive.

Christine Sao Miguel came to the University of Connecticut Health Center from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Susan Loewenkamp from Los Angeles to take an experimental cancer vaccine. They neither knew nor cared that they were among the first two dozen patients to receive experimental treatments based on research conducted by UConn scientists -- a goal long sought by UConn officials. "This is exactly what we should be doing," said Dr. Peter Deckers, head of the health center. Sao Miguel and Loewenkamp say the treatments are what they need to stay alive.

Edward F. Beckwith left a restored Bushnell Park to the people of Hartford, and also left a legacy of inspiring people to succeed. Beckwith, the leading advocate in the 1980s for fixing up the park, died Saturday at his home in South Portland, Maine. He was 68, and died of kidney cancer. "I would say Ed was the visionary who saw what the park could once again be brought back to," said Sandra A. Sharr, who worked with Beckwith in restoring Bushnell Park in the 1980s. "He was the driving force to work with the city to refurbish the park."